Coincidentally, Apple also slipped in a tidbit about the future of its LCD displays. Jobs mentioned in his post that one of the key areas that his company was striving for was the removal of mercury in the use of its products. Mercury is a chemical element that is present in LCDs that use fluorescent tube backlights. Apple will announce LED backlit displays within 2007, which eliminate the use of mercury, Jobs said.

"Fortunately, all iPod displays already use LEDs for illumination, and therefore contain no mercury." Jobs said. "Our ability to completely eliminate fluorescent lamps in all of our displays depends on how fast the LCD industry can transition to LED backlighting for larger displays."

Users will gain several advantages with the arrival of LED backlit LCD panels. One key advantage is LED backlit LCD panels have greater backlight uniformity than cold cathode fluorescent tube-based LCDs. This gives professionals more color accuracy and a larger gamut. Of course being green means energy saving, and LED panels use far less energy than fluorescent tubes.

"Apple is already a leader in innovation and engineering, and we are applying these same talents to become an environmental leader," Jobs said.

After Jobs' announcement, Greenpeace quickly responded by indicating that because of Apple's new commitments, it will update Apple's 2.7 out of 10 rating to a approximately a 5.

"Apple fans have greeted this campaign, and they have made clear what they want-- an Apple which is not just green skin-deep, but green to the core," the Greenpeace said.

The Greenpeace group also asks that Apple develop a program to recycle unwanted products in an earth-friendly fashion, and Apple is doing just that. Old iPods will be accepted at all 150 Apple stores in exchange for a discount on a purchase of a new iPod. Oddly enough, Greenpeace was kicked out of MacWorld late last year for voicing its opinions on products being displayed at the show.

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"Intel is investing heavily (think gazillions of dollars and bazillions of engineering man hours) in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology." -- Intel blogger Nick Knupffer